The Impossibility
by Rye-bread
Summary: Kim Possible is fictional.  Helen Keller is historical.  Maybe there is a rememblence between the two.  A fanfic with a difference, I hope.


James Timothy was a rocket engineer. His wife Annette was a neurosurgeon. Both were brilliant doctors. Their first child was Kimberly Anne, a precocious young thing. She could walk and talk at six months of age. They had great hopes for her.

But when she was a year and a half old, she caught a cold. The cold became a fever, and Kimberly was deathly ill. She recovered after many days--but to the shock and horror of her parents, she did not respond to loud sounds and bright light. She only stared blankly ahead. An examination ruled out brain damage, but her hearing and eyesight were completely gone.

Dr. James Timothy Possible confidently believed that "Anything is possible for a Possible." Kim would recover her senses. Or the technology of the day would advance to where devices could be made that would allow her to compensate, somehow. Dr. Annette Joan Possible, the physician, had a more realistic outlook, however. Kimberly would never see, or hear, or talk, or learn, again.

A few years later, the Possibles had twins, Jim and Tim, almost as bright as infants had Kim had been. The loved them and gave them all the advantages of learning that could be afforded.

Kim was not raised with any learning or discipline, however. She was thought to be unteachable. They let her do what she wanted to do--luckily, she had been toilet trained before her illness, or coping with her would have been utterly impossible--a cruel pun that was not lost on her parents.

Kim was allowed to eat when and what she wanted, sleep when and where she wanted, do what she wanted. The lovely red hair that her mother so treasured was cut short so it would not snarl and tangle. The lovely green eyes stared sightless, never focusing on a single object.

They hired a series of nannies, au pairs, and governesses, trying to manage Kim. They went to child behavioral experts for any kind of advice they could. The most frequent solution they offered was "Institutionalize her." It broke her mother's heart.

One day there was a knock at the door. It was a young lady, hardly an adult herself. "Hello, Dr. Possible, my name is Sheila Go."

She had been referred to them by Dr. James Timothy Possible's former colleague and college roommate, Dr. Drew Lipsky.

The Possibles had reservations about Miss Go. She looked sickly, her skin so deathly pale. She had a record of offenses. There was even some jail time.

Dr. Jim Possible confronted her. "Why should I hire you to take of my daughter?" he asked bluntly.

Miss Go was equally blunt. "Because I grew up like she did--no discipline. My family loved me too little. You love her too much. My brothers thought I was incurably bad, and wrote me off. You and your wife think your daughter is incurably unteachable. It's only her senses that are impaired. Inside that pretty little head is a mind that is still alive, aching to get out, if only provided the way to do so. Dr. Lipsky, whatever his faults, didn't give up on me. He paid for my schooling and put up with all my foul temper while I was his lab assistant. I will put up with all Kim's untrained behavior. If a bad attitude like mine can be healed, then a disability like hers can be overcome.

Miss Go made changes in the Possible household. "I must be given absolute control over Kim. She must be trained, like an animal.

The Possible family was shocked. "Miss Go, how could be so cruel?" wailed Kim's mother.

Miss Go motioned to the neighbor boy, Ron Stoppable. "You, young man. You're Kim's sidekick, by the look of it?"

It was true. The two children had an almost mystical intangible bond. They were inseparable.

Miss Go continued. "Your pet--that little hairless pink mouse thing."

"Naked mole rat," said Ron indignantly, correcting her.

"Whatever. It looks like it's quite knowledgeable. It can operate machinery and mimic human behavior. Did it learn that on its own?"

"So not. I've trained Rufus since my parents got him for me," said Ron proudly.

Miss Go called the twins over. "You guys like to build rockets, like your dad. Does your mom let you fire them in the house?"

The twins looked appalled. "Hickaboo! No way! Mom would do a lobotomy on both of us!"

"Hushu, yeah," the other said. "Dad would send us to the Black Hole if we didn't put a guidance system in every rocket we build."

"Exactly," said Miss Go. "You train animals. You program rockets. You teach people. Why would you shortchange this miraculous little girl? Is she less worthy of dignity than the naked pink rat-mouse-critter?"

The Possibles were persuaded. Miss Go and Kim were put up in a little summer cottage in the back yard.

(Ron took Miss Go aside privately. "Miss Go, Kim's parents--and mine would be tweaked if they knew. Kim can climb up the ladder to my treehouse and slide down the rope better than I can.

And Miss Go playfully cuffed Ron on the shoulder. "Thanks, Sidekick. Good to know. I kinda thought Kimmie was smarter that she let on.")

The only visitor Miss Go allowed was Ron Stoppable--because she saw that Ron looked at her through fresh eyes. Ron did not see the limitations. Ron saw the friend.

Miss Go taught Kim a manual alphabet. Every letter had its own hand shape. She endlessly spelled every word into Kim's hand.

"F-O-O-D. W-A-T-E-R. R-O-N. R-U-F-U-S. H-A-I-R. D-R-E-S-S. H-A-N-D. F-O-O-T. It has a _name_, Princess. Everything has a name!"

Other children came to watch from a distance and make fun. Bonnie Rockwaller taunted them almost daily. "Lady, she's a _stupe_! A _dummy_! Why bother?"

Miss Go had learned a magic trick from her petty larceny days. Green fire appeared in her hand. They ran away screaming. "Scared the crap out of those little nerdlingers," she chuckled.

"Cool!" said Ron. "Can you teach me that?"

"When your naked mole rat flies, Sidekick. Now pay attention to these hand symbols. When Princess here finally gets it, you've got to know this stuff so you can talk to her."

And one day, it happened. Kim came to Miss Go and pulled on her arm. She frantically patted her stuffed toy and shook it. She grabbed Miss Go's hand and started to make random hand signals. The green eyes that hadn't had a glimmer of comprehension since infancy shone with an inquisitive light. Miss Go hurriedly spelled into Kim's hand P-A-N-D-A-R-O-O. And Kim spelled the word back.

Kim was in a frenzy, touching everything and sticking her hand out insistently, palm up, demanding to receive. C-H-A-I-R. D-O-O-R. S-H-O-E.

"Ron!" shouted Miss Go, forgetting her nickname for him. "Run to the house. Get the Possible's out here!"

"Dr. Possible! She knows. _Kim knows!_"

Sobbing for joy, Kim's parents crushed her in their embraced and smothered her with kisses. Kim stuck her hand out and Miss Go spelled out the words. M-O-M-M-Y. D-A-D-D-Y.

Kim felt the moisture on their cheeks, and her own cheeks. T-E-A-R-S.

At last Kim shyly approached Miss Go, patted her on the shoulder, and held her palm up with the yearning look in the unseeing eyes. Miss Go spelled out the word T-E-A-C-H-E-R. Kim hugged Miss Go around the neck, kissed her cheek as her parents had kissed hers, and again lifted her palm. It was not an object that Kim asked the name for. It was a concept. Miss Go spelled L-O-V-E. And Kim in turn bestowed L-O-V-E on her parents, her brothers, and her best friend.

Kim went on to attend public school at Middleton High. She learned to speak in an understandable fashion. She learned to understand spoken words by the feel of her hand on a person's throat as they vocalized She could listen to a concert, feeling the vibrations through floor with her foot. She became a cheerleader, an athlete, and an honors student. She learned more than a dozen forms of kung-fu. She began to go on what she called "missions", errands of mercy to help others in danger and trouble, accompanied by her dearest friends, Ron Stoppable and Sheila Go.

And she married Ron, with the Teacher as her maid of honor.

And for this Possible, nothing was an Impossibility.


End file.
